For MegaFon, whose billionaire owner, Alisher Usmanov, is combining his stake with state-backed 4G operator Scartel, the additional frequencies were a big win. MegaFon and Scartel (Yota) already jointly control more than 50 percent of the 2.6 GHz band. MegaFon launched LTE in Moscow in May using Scartel’s network (called Yota), and Rostelecom plans to do so in September under an infrastructure-sharing contract with Scartel.

The Russian government awarded four 2×7.5MHz blocks of frequencies covering the entire Russian territory. Paired blocks will be limited to one operator apiece. The tender awarded extra ‘points’ to bidders which agree to open their networks up to mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). The operators are obliged to start providing services no later than June 1, 2013.